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10 Weird and Wonderful Foods to Try in Singapore

Singapore is full of weird and wonderful local dishes to try during your stay. Here are the top 10 handpicked foods to try in Singapore. Disclosure: as a vegetarian, I was not able to try the meat dishes selected for this feature. However for the sake of all meat lovers, these non-veggie friendly dishes come highly recommended by a Singaporean local – thanks Josephine!

Breakfast:

1. Soft-boiled (slurpy) eggs & Kaya Toast

Singapore has one main traditional breakfast: Soft-boiled eggs (you slurp out of a bowl) and Kaya toast. Remember the good old days when bread was just white, thinly sliced, and lathered up with butter as a kid? Traditionally you will eat your kaya toast this way, however the spread is a sweet coconut flavour with a good dose of melted butter – Y.U.M. Of course these days you can order brown bread, if you must!

2. Chwee Kway (水粿 lit. Water Rice Cake)

Singapore’s second breakfast dish worth trying is a hot alternative that is also veggie friendly (though it really doesn’t look to be – I asked a thousand times), is regularly seen at Hawker’s Centres in Singapore and Johor. The base is a steamed rice cake that is topped with chai poh (preserved radish) and hot chilli. The younger generation avoid this carb-heavy dish, but it is well worth a try to taste the flavours of old Singapore.

Best Chwee Kueh stall:

Lunch:

3. Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶 lit. Meat bone tea/ Pork Ribs soup)

There are many stories about the origins of the Bak Kut Teh’s origins, but my favourite is that during the days of olden Singapore, a starving beggar came by a street stall selling pork noodles and begged for food. The stall owner himself was in poverty, but wanted to help him, so he boiled some left over pork bones and threw in some cheap spices to give the soup flavour. And the rest is history!

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh: 11 New Bridge Road #01-01, Singapore 059383

4. Pomelo Salad (veggie friendly)

You can’t go wrong with a pomelo salad. Pomelo is sort of like a grapefruit but sweet instead of sour. It goes fantastically in Asian salads and is a common ingredient for Singaporeans in their entree course. Try it, it will surprise you!

5. Wanton Mee (云吞面)

Ahhh, Wanton noodles! A signature dish for the East, particularly in Hong Kong, these dry noodles are often drenched in sweet sauce and topped with slices of pork and wanton dumplings (also filled with pork) and a small portion of soup served on the side. Great if you like pork, I suppose!

Best Wanton Mee stalls:

Fei Fei Wanton Mee: 62 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 427785

6. Laksa

The curry laksa is an important dish for Singapore because it is a merge of both Chinese and Malay elements, of which Singapore is itself. This is most commonly known as Peranakan culture. There are plenty of differing version of laksa, so be sure to try a few!

Best Laksa in Singapore:

328 Katong Laksa: 51/53 East Coast Road, Singapore 428770

Sungei Road Laksa: Blk 27 Jalan Berseh, #01-100 Singapore 200027

7. Popiah

This thin wafer filled with ingredients such as prawns, builed eggs, chinese sausage, bean sprouts, carrots, lettuce and turnip is often served with a sweet hoisin sauce and a great snack if you’re on-the-go.

Dinner:

9. Dim sum (点心)

Needing no introduction, dim sum is a staple in many parts of the East and Singapore is no exception. There are many great places to try dim sum, but for the most tried and tested, be sure to check out Tim Ho Wan.

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Hina

Hi there! I have been binge-watching your videos on Youtube because why not during the holidays! I remember you mentioning there, and again here in this post, that you’re a vegetarian. How does that work, finding and having local foods when you have certain dietary restrictions? I can’t eat pork, but I find that it’s difficult trying the local foods of certain places because that’s often the main portion of the meal. Do you have any tips?

Thanks!

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3 years ago

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Rina

You should try the other cuisines too (if you haven’t)! There’s amazing Indian vegetarian food in Little India and a Buddhist restaurant as well. Maybe for your next visit?

Right about now, we’re having our Chinese New Year festive. Chinatown converts into a place where it’s jam packed lined with stalls selling candies, handy crafts, calligraphy stamps etc! You’ll get to taste the candies & jellies for free if you approach the candy stalls. Hehe.

I’m surprised by how little Indian and Malay food you were introduced to by STB.

I’ll just add that you can ask for a vegetarian popiah without prawns, sausages or even eggs as it’s made a la minute. Besides chwee kueh, other vegetarian dishes include gado gado (without the prawn crackers), sayur lodeh and dosai.

Mmmm kaya toast! When I was in Singapore visiting my friend my morning would consist of going to the street vendor to get waffles with kaya and a bubble tea and laying by the pool. I brought back a jar of that kaya stuff when I went home!

FROM THE EDITOR:

Hello, Hola, Bonjour!
My name is Brooke Saward and I have been travelling the world solo for the past seven years. Here you can find my travel inspiration & advice to help plan your own adventures or gain the confidence to travel solo. Thanks for stopping by!